Columbia Kermit/kermit.zip/newsgroups/misc.19990725-20000114/[e-mail] _Mon Aug 23 11:48:48 1999.msg

Internet Message Format | 2020-01-01 | 4KB

Return-Path: <[e-mail]>
Received: from newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu (newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu [128.59.59.30])
    by watsun.cc.columbia.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) with ESMTP id LAA15092
    for <[e-mail]>; Mon, 23 Aug 1999 11:48:48 -0400 (EDT)
Received: (from news@localhost)
    by newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu (8.8.5/8.8.5) id LAA09351
    for [e-mail]; Mon, 23 Aug 1999 11:31:34 -0400 (EDT)
X-Authentication-Warning: newsmaster.cc.columbia.edu: news set sender to <news> using -f
From: "James S. Johnson" <[e-mail]>
Subject: Downloading gz files using C-Kermit, Linux, & Lynx
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 1999 11:20:18 -0400
Organization: ncsc
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
To: [e-mail]

All,

I have a perplexing problem using C-Kermit to download files.

The local public library offers a Lynx connection to the internet. I
have three communications programs that I use to connect -
Hyperterm/Win95, C-Kermit/Linux(Slackware4.0), and MS-Kermit/Win95's
DOS. Both C-Kermit and MS-Kermit come from www.columbia.edu. I log in as
guest, and I cannot change settings on the library's Lynx setup. I am
able to examine downloaded files with a binary editor.

I can download *.exe files without a problem. However, I cannot
correctly download *.gz files. Under Hyperterm and MS-Kermit, the files
have a 0x0D (hexadecimal for 13) byte inserted before every 0x0A byte.
Under C-Kermit, the files have all the 0x0D's stripped. Except for the
fact that I can download *.exe files, this appears to be a problem with
the text/binary setting. I have tried everything I can think of to make
certain the setting is on binary, but without solving the problem.

One odd thing I have noticed - using C-Kermit I can turn the automatic
receive switch off, so I have to explicitly go to Kermit and start the
receive part of the transfer. When I do so, I see a banner that tells me
the transfer is in binary mode, but after about 10 packets are received
it switches to text mode. This is bewildering. It tells me that I am
indeed correctly putting Kermit into binary mode, but that (1) Lynx is
switching me back to text mode without my knowledge, (2) my C-Kermit has
an automatic switch set to change me back to text mode if it sees a
particular byte sequence in the incoming data, which is coincidentally
in the *.gz files I have attempted to download, or (3) the banner
doesn't actually reflect the setting of C-Kermit, but instead is just
notifying me that the file appears to be a text file. Just to make sure
(2) isn't the culprit, I've turned off all the automatic functionality I
can find, with no change in the final results - the received files under
C-Kermit still have the 0x0D's stripped. Also, HyperTerm appears to be
in text mode, too, even though I use the receive command, which the
HyperTerm documentation says is a binary transfer. So I don't believe
that C-Kermit is switching automatically, and I do believe that it is
set to binary mode when the transfer begins.

Frank DaCruz' _Using C-Kermit_ has a single (as far as I can find)
reference to Lynx. It is on pg. 536, I think, around the middle of the
page, and it refers to a problem running C-Kermit under VMS when
communicating with Lynx. Unfortunately I don't know what OS the
library's Lynx runs under. Does Lynx and C-Kermit have a known problem
when it comes to downloading *.gz files, or is there something else that
I should try to get the downloads to work?

James Johnson